20 May 2024
St Albans’ first eco hub has just opened its doors, with the aim of helping local people to live happier, healthier and greener lives, writes Anna Shreeves.
The Green House, a new sustainability hub which can be found on London Road above Jefferson Eco, has officially opened for business.
Similar to a community centre, The Green House will support and guide residents to move towards a greener lifestyle.
Its main focuses are to promote sustainability, help people connect with nature, protect the local bio-diversity and to help people reduce their carbon footprint.
Trish Gibbons, who runs The Green House describes the hub as a starting point for change: “We are just a group of ordinary local people who just want to help residents in the district of St Albans to take the steps towards a more sustainable life.”
Jane Corndhwaite, one of the directors, made a very apt bee analogy; she described The Green House as a hive, and those who volunteer are bees who they spread their pollen (expertise) to the flowers which is our community.
Taking 18 months to be finally realised, the hub now provides a space for local people to learn, socialise, create and inspire.
The Green House aims to be the first port of call for residents who want information, whether that be about retrofitting or re-wilding your garden.
They also offer facilities where people can recycle pill packages, Pringles cans and other rubbish which cannot be recycled at traditional centres.
Cookery courses, seed swaps, workshops, talks from experts and pop-up events will all be happening in the future.
From 11a till 3pm on a Wednesday the hub hosts ‘What next Wednesday’ where they encourage locals to come to the centre to share their ideas of what St Albans can do better in terms of being green.
Trish said: “Tell us your ideas and we will see if we can make them happen.”
Working in partnership with the hub is Wilderhood Watch, who are a local group of St Albans residents striving to make our city as wildlife friendly as possible and they will be at the hub every Friday from 2-4pm.
They are transforming St Albans one street at a time, by working with residents to coordinate a unique wildlife action plan based on the individual streets’ needs and capabilities.
There are currently around 60 streets across St Albans signed up to this movement, with a few other streets around Herts too.
The team at The Green House have big goals but they are wary not to alienate people, as Trish said: “We can’t be preachy.
“We are not here to tell people what to do, we are here to help people do what they want to do.
“Give it a go, and if it doesn’t suit you that’s okay.”
Trish’s mantra is ‘the biggest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it’.
“We have all got to do our bit – it does not matter how small”.
To get involved visit their website: thegreenhousestalbans.org
Or follow them on social media: https://www.instagram.com/thegreenhousestalbans/
https://www.facebook.com/thegreenhousestalbans
